Managing Matthew Schaefer’s minutes is already becoming one of the Islanders’ biggest nightly puzzles.
With Alexander Romanov out for the season, the temptation to lean even harder on the 19-year-old defenseman is obvious. He’s one of the NHL’s top players, he runs the first power-play unit, and when he’s on the ice, the Islanders simply look more dangerous. But Pete DeBoer knows the long view matters too, especially if the team wants Schaefer fresh for the stretch run.
“It’s hard not to play those guys,” DeBoer said before the Islanders beat Chicago, 4-1, at UBS Arena on Thursday night when he was asked about balancing in-game needs with the full-season big picture. “It’s hard to keep those guys off the ice and it’s particularly hard when you’re losing games because you know those guys are the difference-makers.
“But we’ve been very conscious from Day 1. We’ve taken his penalty-killing away and used other guys.”
Even with that approach, Schaefer still logged 26:43 against a Chicago team missing Connor Bedard, adding a power-play assist in the win. The game turned nasty late after Chicago’s Frank Nazar got his shoulder up high on Bo Horvat, which led to a match penalty and a 10-minute misconduct. Horvat, who scored twice, went into concussion protocol, and there was no immediate update on his condition.
“They go after one of our guys,” Emil Heineman said. “Whatever it is, we have to stick up for one of ours, and I think we did that.
It’s a cheap shot. I don’t like to see that.
I like the way we responded.”
That kind of response is part of what DeBoer calls his “non-negotiables.”
The larger issue, though, is how the Islanders handle Schaefer game after game. Thursday offered the clearest look yet at how Romanov’s second straight season-ending injury will affect the blue line. Romanov now needs surgery to repair the ACL in his right knee after previously battling back from shoulder surgery, and DeBoer had to reshuffle his pairs with Schaefer staying on his off-side.
Schaefer skated with fellow lefthanded shot Logan Stanley, while DeBoer reunited Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock and moved righthanded Tony DeAngelo to his off-side with fellow righty Scott Mayfield, who made his season debut after being a healthy scratch for the first three games.
Stanley, signed as a free agent on Sept. 27, picked up two assists in 23:49, his first time topping 20 minutes as an Islander. He said he wasn’t expecting to be paired with Schaefer so early.
“He likes the puck on his stick,” Stanley said. “He’s a world-class skater.
There’s very few that can skate like him in this game. Give him the puck and let him do his thing and try to be solid defensively for him.”
Through the first three games, Schaefer averaged a team-high 24:27 of ice time, including 25:03 in Tuesday night’s 5-2 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Romanov left that game in the third period after colliding with Mika Zibanejad.
DeBoer backed off a bit in Saturday’s 6-0 win over the Devils, using Schaefer for 20:34. That’s the balancing act now: enough ice to take over games, not so much that it catches up with him later.
Last season, Schaefer led the Islanders with an average ice time of 24:41 and hit a career high of 31:59 in a 4-3 loss to Chicago at UBS Arena on March 24.
So what actually wears him down?
“It’s a good question,” he told Newsday. “When you’re in the game, adrenaline, you’re like, ‘I don’t care if I’m tired, I’m going to go out there and shut off that “I’m tired’’ mentality.’ There can be times where it’s a very long shift and I’m a little gassed, but I try not to show it.”
Schaefer said he bounces back quickly on the bench after a hard shift.
That youth matters, because the workload is already heavy and the Islanders clearly see the difference when he’s out there. Against the Rangers, it often felt like the only time they could get out of their own zone was during Schaefer’s shifts.
There may be some relief coming up front, too. Mathew Barzal, who has been out with a left knee issue after missing training camp, began skating on his own Thursday.
“He’s a key player, and having him up front will help us all around,” Schaefer said. “He’s been battling something, so for him to start feeling better and get close to 100%, it’s going to be awesome. Seeing him skating is awesome.”
For now, though, DeBoer’s task remains the same: use Schaefer enough to tilt games, but not so much that the Islanders pay for it later.
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